One of the requirements in the legislation when they asked us to do this audit was to conclude on whether or not the programs met their intended objectives. When it came to the wage subsidies, some of those objectives included helping the employer to retain their employees throughout the pandemic and to rehire the employees potentially laid off as businesses closed, but also seeing businesses be sustained throughout the pandemic. Because of the lack of information gathered about employees, such as not having SIN numbers, we were unable to conclude whether or not the same employees were working or remained.
We know from Statistics Canada information that while the number of businesses stayed the same or went up, they are different businesses in some industries. We were unable to conclude on whether the intended objectives of CEWS were met, because of the limited information gathered.